Reckless Short Stories
by mkt1217
Summary: Two short stories featuring Ric Lansing: A Very Short Reckless Detective Story and Everything Changed After Dinner


**A Very Short Reckless Detective Story  
by MKT**

Police Commissioner Mac Scorpio sat at his desk at the PCPD holding the old fashioned fountain pen his stepdaughter Georgie had given him for Father's Day. Mac was looking over the forensics report detailing a grizzly double homicide that occurred overnight in a desolate area of Port Charles, just inside the city limits. The bodies had been discovered under a filthy, torn mattress pulled from an illegal dump at the end of a dead end highway.

What kind of Hannibal Lechter/Freddy Krueger-type would commit such a heinous crime, Mac thought as he skimmed the report. Hmmm, that's odd. A gold South African Kruggerand coin was found underneath each body.

Mac put a fresh TDK 60 minute audio tape in the recorder sitting on his desk as he dictated his notes for his secretary to type up when she returned from her breakfast at the new White House bistro down by the waterfront.

Mac decided it was time to call D.A. Ric Lansing.

Across town on the sixth floor of the Town Harbor Drive condo he shared with his new wife, Alexis, and her daughter, Kristina, Ric Lansing was coming home after his early morning jog.

Stepping through the front door into the living room, Ric sensed that his two-year-old stepdaughter -- although he liked to think of her as his own daughter -- was already awake. A trail of girly toys -- My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake and some Muppets -- wound its way to the french doors leading to the hallway with the kitchen and bedrooms beyond.

Then, right on cue, little Kristina padded into the living room, still in her purple pajamas, cradling a bowl of Froot Loops in her tiny hands.

"Whoa, whoa don't spill that!" Ric cautioned his little girl. "Mommy's not going to like it if you add to the mess in here!"

Ric grabbed the bowl of cereal from Kristina and led her to the coffee table. Ric gingerly placed the bowl on the highly polished surface next to the Scrabble board he and Alexis had left out last night after their friendly game of words turned a little more provocative.

The casually clad D.A. sat on the sofa beside his precious little Kristina. He moved a throw pillow, revealing two popsicle sticks he had hidden a few nights earlier when he and the little one were sharing a secret snack just before dinner.

"Here, honey," Ric said, turning on the television with a flip of the remote. "Let's watch something educational."

Ric quickly flipped through the channels. A Marilyn Manson video on MTV. A Marilyn Monroe movie on the classic movie channel. An old black and white sitcom. Oh, that's Marilyn from "The Munsters," he recalled. Alexis wouldn't approve of Kristina watching any of those.

"Here, Kristina. Here's something about Persian cats. Or maybe it's Persian rugs. Or maybe actual Persians."

Ric looked around the room. Too much clutter, he thought, as he spotted his set of long since used golf clubs sitting in the corner near the fireplace. Alexis isn't going to like this, he chuckled to himself.

Ric started to pick up the clutter as he thought about the surprise he had for his wife, a honeymoon. He imagined the two of them enjoying a long walk on a moonlit beach.

Just then the phone rang and Ric knew he was in for a long day at the office.

Freshly shaved and showered, Ric arrived at the PCPD about 45 minutes later.

"Whatdya' got, Mac?" the D.A. asked as he sauntered into the room.

"A grizzly double homicide," the commissioner said matter of factly. "Have a seat, Ric. There's a lot here in this report that we have to go over."

Ric sat in the black vinyl chair across from Mac's desk. The Commissioner handed him the report. Ric flipped through the pages.

"Looks like we're going to be here a while," Ric stated. "Too bad, because I was planning a quiet evening at home sipping red wine by a crackling fire."

Mac chuckled at the thought.

"Yeah, too bad. I'm sure Alexis would have enjoyed that." Mac paused for a second, then held out an offering to the District Attorney.

"Want some chocolate covered donuts?"

**Everything Changed After Dinner**,  
A Ric and Alexis Very Short Story  
by MKT

Ric peered forlornly out the window of his hotel room overlooking the train station thinking that he and Alexis should be on their honeymoon, swooshing down the ski slopes right about now.

He took a look in the mini-fridge. Only some grapes, some tacos he had picked up while walking in the snow on his way from the office, and a walnut. Not exactly a gourmet meal.

Ric's thoughts turned to the homemade chicken pot pie he had created for Alexis and Kristina the night before. He had made the crust from scratch, using a recipe he found on an Internet message board, and the new Cuisinart Alexis had given him as a "moving in" present.

Kristina and her helpers -- Sandy the dog, a Tweety Bird, and a dapperly dressed penguin -- had rolled out the crust, beating it with a rubber spatula and had gotten flour all over the place. The little girl had even rubbed some on Ric's face, pretending it was shaving cream.

Ric chuckled at the memory of Alexis calling him Mr. Clean as he straightened up the kitchen.

And, the thing is, Kristina didn't even eat the meal she helped make. She just wanted a bowl of Frosted Flakes.

But everything changed after dinner, when the toddler went to bed, sleeping as soundly as a snoring cat, Ric went to work on a bank robbery case, and Alexis went looking for a stapler in a desk drawer, and instead, beside the white-out, under a dictionary, found the paternity papers.

Ric couldn't sleep. He stood on the balcony of his hotel room waiting for the sunrise. God, how could he have been so reckless with those damn papers? His life was out of control, unraveling like a ball of yarn. He felt like he was speeding down a highway in a limo in the dead of night without headlights. So much had changed since he said those words to Alexis, "marry me," while the pair hunched over Kristina in her hospital crib. First he lost his dream house, Greystone, to his brother. Now he had lost his dream, a family with Alexis.

He wasn't just crying over a glass of spilled milk. He had spilled the entire cow.

He thought about getting into his Porsche with its new set of four steel belted radial tires. He wondered if he could just show up at Alexis's door, charming her and gaining entrance with a dozen red long stem roses and his guitar.

But he knew it wouldn't work. It was too soon. She needed more time. More time, he thought, to realize she needs me.


End file.
